Tim’s Nomad Diaries

While sitting here in Hanoi, I reflect on my month in China and try to gather my thoughts of what is still a baffling and blurred set of feelings towards that mysterious and most-capitalistic biggest communist country in the world. A stream of different senses and emotions flow through my mind like a whirlwind.

The chaos and mass hysteria of first walking through a road intersection; bicycles, mopeds, construction workers with wagons, cars and trucks, all somehow seeming to coexist without all ramming into each other. Honks are coming from all directions, suddenly I shiver as a rider wails his horn one foot behind me before dodging out of the way.

Those scenic countryside vistas; the limestone hills in the cloudy distance in Yangsuo, the water buffaloes wading in the river and hens clucking about through the roads, those shining smiles of the villagers that warm you like the sun’s rays. All juxtaposed with the seemingly endless cringe-inducing neon lights of the cities, as well as the massive trash bin that is much of China. You got garbage? Just throw it on the ground, that’s what everyone else does…

That loud sucking sound of phlegm from deep below the trenches of the esophagus, and the ensuing splat as the wod of mucus hits the ground. I think back to that conversation with a Mandarin teacher from North of Beijing who taught himself English listening to audio cassettes every day since 1997; I asked him why he went through all this trouble, and he said because he was very interested in Western culture and the vast differences of it from Chinese culture. “Well” I ask, “What do you think are the main differences?”. He replys after a thoughtful moment: “Westerners don’t spit every two minutes; they are more educated”.

“What are some other big differences that you can think of” I inquire. He goes on “I can’t understand how Westerners have so little variety in their meals. Here, in China we eat different food every day, few meals the same”. When I heard that, this was only a few days into my month long stay in China, I found this a tad hard to swallow, because like many other Westerners, I had my stereotypes of Chinese cuisine firmly implanted in my head, stemming from many encounters with Western style Chinese restaurants.In reality though, cuisine in China is incredibly diverse with differing food from each region. Every day that I was in China I tried some food that I have NEVER had before. And I didn’t even go looking for the unique food, it just came to me–I normally ate what was offered to me, or whatever the Chinese characters signified in which I randomly pointed to. In fact, every day I had something different, from fish skin to one of a hundred veggies or fruits to a new meat or body part that I have yet to try. Only rule is no endangered animals, all other preconceived biases left at the front door.

The most interesting selection of food, though, would have to be found in a small restaurant outside of Beijing; I don’t know the name (even though we surely can all think of some fun ones) but their selling point speaks for itself: penis. Every type of male genitalia that you could ever imagine is possible to order here. It’s kind of expensive, about $40 just to sit down, but with that you get a tray consisting of a wide variety of animal knicker knackers. The most expensive entre is the shaft of a seal, priced at around $500 US dollars, but I hear the Rhinoceros has quite a delicious and delectable dick as well.

Besides for the massive food option, another uniquity of the Chinese eating tradition is its communality. Meals are seldom had alone, they tend to be loud social events, where an array of different dishes are placed in the middle of the table and everyone just goes after what they want with their chopsticks. The Chinese take food seriously, and meals are considered a social celebration rather than just a means to sustenance, like it so often is in the West.

As far as Chinese political and economic thoughts go, I already alluded to this earlier, but China is in no way communist; in fact, they’re probably among the biggest capitalists that I have seen. Whether your talking about the deficient welfare system, rampant privatization, huge divide among the wealth classes, the insane levels of consumerism which have taken over the top portion of the population, or the bargaining that is deeply inbedded within the culture, China ranks in my book as being quite the uber-capitalist county. How the reigning party in charge, the CPC (Communist Party of China), is allowed to get away with calling themselves by that name is beyond me, but I imagine it has something to do with deference to the still God-like Chairman Mao (although he is often quietly resented among much of the younger generation). 

Its important to not fall into the trap that so many people (see Americans) do, equating capitalism with democracy in some sense, or rather the inverse, communism with non-democracy. Communism isn’t the proper word at all here, its rather another type of ism: totalitarianism. One has to wonder, though, how long this thought suppression and iron fist ruling style by the government can hold up, as everything else is opening up everywhere you look. Every day, the Chinese government has 270,000 people working just looking for websites to block; how much longer do you think that can last? Just imagine, in a few years down the road it might be possible for the Chinese people to have access to ‘corruptive influences’ like myself.

In sum, China was a rush, filled with complete extremes, contradictions, and paradoxes, and has me walking away scratching my head and not really knowing what to think. The people, however, do seem to share that unique kindness of heart that makes you thrilled to be alive at that very moment.